The first file is being prepared.
No episodes have been released here yet. When the first case opens, you’ll find the story, its sources and the details that didn’t fit on screen.
History has a paper trail.
Bad thingshappened.
True stories from history, war and crime, told by someone who read the whole file.
BTH / ARCHIVEFILE 001
Everyone had
a plan.
Then this happened.
HISTORY · WAR · GEOGRAPHY · CRIME
STATUS: FIRST CASE IN PREPARATION
STATUS: FIRST CASE IN PREPARATION
THE RECORD: HISTORY / WAR / CRIMETHE APPROACH: READ THE WHOLE FILETHE VERDICT: FACTS FIRST
01 / The archiveEvery story.
Every story.
A case file.
Extraordinary plans. Overlooked details. Consequences nobody saw coming. The archive starts here, one carefully sourced story at a time.
Archive pending
02 / The methodThe facts are
The facts are
strange enough.
A good story doesn’t need a conspiracy. It needs context, a paper trail and the part everyone else skipped.
Open the file.
Start with the record. Put the people, the place and the decisions back in context. Show what they knew at the time.
Find the turn.
Follow the detail that changes everything. The failed assumption. The wrong map. The plan that looked better on paper.
Show the evidence.
Sources belong alongside the story. Uncertainty gets a label. When the record doesn’t tell us, we say so.
03 / Behind the fileRead all of it.
Read all of it.
Tell the good part.
Bad Things Happened is a new documentary channel from Tony Simons, exploring history, war, geography and historical crime.
The voice is calm, curious and a little appalled. There’s room for dry humor when the facts earn it. Never at the expense of victims.
Read the editorial standards“Everyone involved thought this was a good idea. Let’s find out why it wasn’t.”
The spirit of the investigation.